Mucking and Weaving

Very busy times in the garden now and the warm and dry weather has meant great progress in the new kitchen garden. Most of the soil preparation is complete, to the relief of all the gardeners involved (some were beginning to get overload - see picture), with the mushroom compost, manure, composted bark in place, rotavation done, levelling of areas, ie. the real donkey work!

So it made a lovely change to be weaving willow screens over the past week, to snake along the curved pathway in the new area. As well as adding height and providing climbing frames for plants, they help form a connection between different areas of the kitchen garden area. The criss-cross pattern is light and open & doesn't restrict the views, and the visitors love them!

Work on the new Learning Centre starts next week, so the rhubarb from the ‘rhubarb triangle' had to be moved before Monday. Thankfully we had help from some of the other gardeners - many hands do indeed make light work! Larger crowns were split, and some replanted in the main collection to replace dead or poor specimens - most went to the new kitchen garden. Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) has been planted in amongst the rhubarb - they are traditionally companions, with the cicely being used in the rhubarb cooking water to counter the acidity.

Its really exciting to be planting at last, and the pressure is certainly on with everything growing away fast in this summer-like weather, as well as the sowing season under way!